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6023 results in Facet Publishing

Page 300 of 302

  • Special Topic (B) How can I train my users? (Evidence Digest)

  • from Part 3 - Using the evidence base in practice
    • By Alison Brettle, Research Fellow (Information) at the Health Care Practice R&D Unit (HCPRDU), University of Salford
  • Edited by Andrew Booth, Anne Brice
  • Book:
    Evidence-based Practice for Information Professionals
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    15 March 2004, pp 178-184

  • Summary

    Why is it important?

    Finding evidence is an essential skill for students and practitioners. With increasing numbers of end-users independently searching electronic resources there is a need to acquire information skills to support lifelong learning. Librarians and information professionals, with their knowledge of sources and searching, are well placed to teach these skills.

    Evidence-based healthcare requires clinicians to find information to keep up-to-date in order to make better informed treatment decisions. They need skills in asking the right questions, identifying sources and selecting the best quality evidence (Hicks, 1998). Accessing research evidence in electronic databases also requires new skills in information technology (Pyne et al., 1999). Research has shown that medical professionals are less effective at searching than librarians, finding less relevant information and missing important information, for example conflicting conclusions about treatment effectiveness (Haynes et al., 1990). Optimizing search skills is therefore a worthwhile goal (Erickson and Warner, 1998). Information skills training can help practitioners recognize and use evidence, and make more efficient use of their time (Hicks, 1998).

    This chapter draws on evidence from the health sector. However, it is likely that the lessons and experiences learned are relevant and transferable to other sectors.

    What is required?

    Teaching methods

    Teaching information skills, or user education, is undertaken in a wide variety of settings, using a range of methods (Brettle, 2003; University Health Sciences Librarians Group, 2001). These include:

  • • didactic sessions

  • • demonstration of techniques

  • • hands-on sessions

  • • one-to-one sessions

  • • small and large groupwork

  • • interactive web packages

  • • sessions delivered via e-mail

  • • various combinations of the above.

    • However, a systematic review of career grade doctors (Davis et al., 1995) concluded that training using enabling or reinforcing elements is more effective in improving outcomes than are formal and didactic teaching methods. Teaching strategies used in evidence-based medicine (question formulation, searching for evidence, critical appraisal, implementing evidence and evaluation of performance) have also been shown to be effective (Rosenberg and Donald, 1995; Rosenberg et al., 1998).

    The NHS Executive (1999) advises that education providers should: consider access to ICT facilities; allow individuals to set their own learning objectives (as they have better ownership and motivation towards learning than those whose objectives are set for them); establish fixed areas of learning and flexibility to respond to individual needs; enable clinicians to use new information skills to reinforce and retain them; and take the clinicians’ normal environment into account when developing programmes.

  • 4 - Creating and capturing records

  • Elizabeth Shepherd, Geoffrey Yeo
  • Book:
    Managing Records
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 December 2003, pp 101-145

  • Summary

    Much organizational activity leads naturally to the creation of records, but few organizations seek to record everything that they do. Written communications generate records, but most spoken communications leave no record unless a written note is made, and manual and physical tasks can also pass unrecorded. However, new ways of working and new technologies often make it simpler to create records where none were created in the past. With the growth of e-mail, many messages that might once have been verbal are now written; digital telephony and voicemail have made it easier to capture evidence of telephone communications when records are required. The first part of this chapter examines organizational needs for the creation of records, and discusses the intellectual and practical aspects of managing records at the point of their creation or receipt.

    The characteristics that records need (authenticity, integrity, usability and reliability) have been discussed in Chapter 1. Records that have these qualities provide a full and accurate representation of the processes and activities that give rise to them. They serve the purposes of business users, lawyers, auditors and regulators. They underwrite the organization's requirements for accountability and transparency as well as providing for its business needs and corporate memory. A records creation strategy helps to ensure that records meet the appropriate standards of quality, but it is also essential that they are captured into a secure and effective records management system so that these qualities will remain intact over time. The second part of this chapter considers principles and procedures for identifying what needs to be captured and for managing the systematic capture of records in paper and digital form.

    Principles of records creation and capture

    Identifying where records are needed

    Some writers assert that a record should be created and captured for every organizational activity, or at least for every transaction involving more than one party (Bearman, 1994, 300). Others suggest that some processes or some steps within a process may not need to generate records, and that the role of records management is to identify how far each process should be recorded (Reed, 1997, 221–2). In practice this depends on the needs of the organization. Highly regulated industries and organizations whose work is publicly sensitive may need to ensure that every telephone call and every verbal transaction is documented, but in most organizations this is neither necessary nor practical.

  • 3 - Structure of AACR2 and of the MARC 21 format

  • J. H. Bowman
  • Book:
    Essential Cataloguing
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 December 2003, pp 12-19

  • Summary

    AACR2 divides cataloguing into the two main processes that I mentioned on p. 6:

  • • description

  • • access points.

    • The arrangement of the code depends on this basic distinction.

    The whole of AACR2 Part I covers description. Because of the way the chapters are laid out there is considerable repetition, and it is usually necessary to look at two chapters at the same time.

    This is because Chapter 1 is written in very general terms. It is intended to apply to any kind of material that might need to be catalogued: it is not specifically about books, or videos, or electronic resources, or anything else. But because these specific formats – and the rest – each have unique features they need chapters of their own, to elaborate on Chapter 1 and to give more specific examples.

    In order to avoid too much repetition, each of Chapters 2–12 keeps referring back to Chapter 1, and uses the same numbering system for its sections. This means that once you know that section. 4 of Chapter 1 refers to the Publication, distribution, etc., area of the description, you automatically know that section. 4 of Chapter 7 will refer to the Publication, distribution, etc., area for videorecordings.

    AACR2 Chapter 13 is an exception to this scheme. It does not follow the same arrangement as Chapters 1–12, but deals solely with the making of analytical entries.

    The access points aspect of cataloguing can be further broken down, as follows:

  • • Selection of access point

    • For example, in cataloguing an edition of Macbeth, who is the author? Answer: Shakespeare, but at this stage we are not concerned about how to spell his name.

  • • Selection of name to be used as basis for heading

    • Continuing with the same example, although there was a long period when the spelling ‘Shakspere’ was common, we shall use the form ‘William Shakespeare’ because that is how his name is usually spelt nowadays. Note that in choosing this form we may be departing from the form that appears in the item itself.

  • 6 - Multipart works

  • J. H. Bowman
  • Book:
    Essential Cataloguing
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 December 2003, pp 128-136

  • Summary

    Considering how common they are, AACR2's treatment of multipart works is deplorable and quite inadequate. In this chapter I will look first at the problems of description, and will then conclude with a short section on access points.

    Description

    Throughout this discussion I use the term ‘multipart title’ to mean the title that applies to all the parts, and ‘part number’ and ‘part title’ to refer to the number and title of the individual part. In the case of books we would usually use the term ‘volume’ for ‘part’.

    Two possible models are provided:

    1 Part number and/or part title included in Title and statement of responsibility area

    Multipart title. Part number [GMD] / statement of responsibility [etc.]

    This could presumably be extended to include the part title also (or instead of the part number), and it appears from elsewhere that the punctuation to introduce the part title is ‘comma space’, and that the part title must have a capital letter.

    This model is also implied by the rules about uniform titles for parts of a work, where examples of cross-references are given in the same form.

    2 Part number and/or part title moved to separate area

    Multipart title [GMD] / statement of responsibility [etc., followed by the rest of the description] Part number: Part title

    i.e., the description of the individual part is relegated to a separate area of the description which is not otherwise used. The whole description of the multipart title comes first.

    Notice that in this system the part title is introduced by ‘colon space’ rather than ‘comma space’.

    The second system appears only under the heading ‘Multilevel description’ in AACR2 Chapter 13, which otherwise deals with analytical entries. It has the advantage of being infinitely extensible, in cases where the parts are further divided. It is also easier to place edition statements and statements of responsibility correctly so that they appear with the title to which they refer.

    The implication is that the latter rule would not normally be used. You are therefore recommended to use the first system. There is another problem, however.

  • 7 - Providing access

  • Elizabeth Shepherd, Geoffrey Yeo
  • Book:
    Managing Records
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 December 2003, pp 216-245

  • Summary

    Records are kept so that they can be made available to authorized users when required. Users may include the staff of the business unit where the records were created, other business units within the organization or authorized users from outside the organization.

    At the time of their creation, records are normally accessible only to their creators and perhaps to other members of a workgroup. When they are captured into a records management system, they normally become more widely accessible: capture is often the moment when the existence of the records is publicized, although it may also be the point at which formal access controls are applied to protect confidentiality.

    Since most organizations hold large numbers of records, systems must be in place to allow different users, and records management staff, to ascertain what records exist and to find those that are relevant to a particular need. Along with access control mechanisms, these need to be planned when records management programmes and systems are set up. This chapter examines the issues and offers some solutions to the questions of records retrieval.

    Meeting the needs of users

    Users and their requirements

    In order to design effective retrieval systems, records managers need an understanding of user requirements. Users articulate requests for retrieval in a variety of ways. For example, they may state that:

  • • a particular record exists, and they want to see it

  • • a particular process or activity took place in the past, and they want to find evidence or information about it

  • • they are gathering information about a particular topic to support the activity that they are currently engaged on

  • • they are undertaking broadly based research, and want to see if the records contain material that may be relevant.

    • Most of these requests allow several degrees of uncertainty. Some users may know that a record exists and be able to identify it precisely; others may seek the same record but be ignorant or uncertain of its title or location. Users may know that an activity took place but have varying degrees of uncertainty about when it occurred, who participated in it or what records it gave rise to. Access mechanisms must be able to satisfy a range of users, including those who have little or no prior knowledge of the records.

    In addition, retrieval systems must be able to handle records at different levels of aggregation.

  • 8 - Implementing records management: practical and managerial issues

  • Elizabeth Shepherd, Geoffrey Yeo
  • Book:
    Managing Records
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 December 2003, pp 246-269

  • Summary

    This chapter examines the practical and managerial issues surrounding the establishment and operation of a successful records management programme. It provides advice on the development and maintenance of effective records systems for organizations that already have the human and financial resources to support a records management programme, and guidance on establishing the necessary infrastructure for those at an earlier stage of implementation. It uses the framework recommended in the international standard on records management (ISO 15489-1:2001) and the accompanying technical report (ISO/TR 15489-2:2001).

    Getting started

    Establishing a records management policy

    All organizations should have a formally agreed policy for the management of their records. The goal of the policy ‘should be the creation and management of authentic, reliable and useable records, capable of supporting business functions and activities for as long as they are required…. The policy should be adopted and endorsed at the highest decision-making level and promulgated throughout the organization’ (ISO 15489-1:2001, clause 6.2).

    An example of a records management policy is given in Figure 8.2 (page 255). When records management is first under consideration, however, it will not be possible to prepare a fully detailed policy statement. The initial focus must be on obtaining a high-level policy decision that the organization will proceed to set up a programme of records management. When the need for a programme has been formally recognized, decisions are required to establish its broad parameters: in particular, whether it will embrace newly created as well as older records and whether it will cover the whole of the organization or only a part. Once these deci- sions have been made, the policy can be refined as work proceeds on developing the programme.

    Reaching agreement on these initial policy decisions may not be easy. Some individuals at senior level may think that records ‘manage themselves’, or that decisions about records can safely be left to the initiative of local workgroups or individual staff members; others may not recognize a need for well-managed records or may consider it a low priority. Sometimes a crisis occurs – an organization suffers financial loss because records are unavailable for a legal dispute or for recovery from a disaster – and the case for records management becomes self-evident. In other circumstances some marketing may be required to convince every key senior manager of the need to manage records systematically.

  • 1 - Understanding records management

  • Elizabeth Shepherd, Geoffrey Yeo
  • Book:
    Managing Records
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 December 2003, pp 1-29

  • Summary

    This chapter introduces the core concepts and terms used in the book. It describes the broad professional context of records management and outlines the intellectual frameworks that underpin it.

    Defining the key terms in records management

    What is records management?

    Records management is the ‘field of management responsible for the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and disposition of records …’ (ISO 15489-1:2001, clause 3.16). As a discipline, it developed from 20th-century office efficiency programmes and from the older profession of archives management. Archives were originally records kept to support the rights and obligations of organizations and individuals, but the archives profession came to be seen as concerned only with older records, kept to support historical research. By the mid 20th century, records managers were employed by archival institutions in the public sector, with the aim of controlling the inflow of ‘modern records’ into historical archives. While this is still one of the functions of records management, it is no longer the only role, nor even the predominant role, of the records manager. Records management now covers the management of records, regardless of age, to meet the needs of private and public sector organizations and the wider society as well as the research community. It earns its place in the life of an organization through its contribution to business aims and organizational goals.

    Records management is a necessary part of the work of almost all employees within an organization (and also of individuals in their personal lives). This book focuses on the organizational context, where records managers are the specialists in records management but rely on the co-operation and participation of all employees.

    To understand records management more fully it is necessary to look at the meaning of the word record. In the past, records management was equated with the management of papers located in organizational filing systems. The growth of new technology and information management has led records managers to seek a more rigorous definition of records, in order to explain what distinguishes them from other organizational resources, and to show how managing records differs from managing documents, data or information.

    What is a record?

    Originally record was a legal term: records were writings preserved in courts of law and accepted by them as authentic testimony of a completed action.

  • 6 - Maintaining records and assuring their integrity

  • Elizabeth Shepherd, Geoffrey Yeo
  • Book:
    Managing Records
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 December 2003, pp 173-215

  • Summary

    A fundamental element of records management is ensuring that records remain secure, intact, accessible and intelligible for as long as they are needed. This chapter considers the strategies that are required to maintain the integrity of records over time.

    With paper records, the main emphasis is on storing the physical media and protecting them from loss or damage. Electronic records require a different approach: the physical carriers are likely to be short-lived, but the records must be maintained over time and probably across several generations of storage media. While preservation of paper records is costly in terms of space occupancy, electronic storage media are compact and relatively inexpensive but costs are incurred in ensuring that records remain accessible.

    Storage systems for paper records

    Centralized or decentralized?

    Storage of records can be centralized or decentralized. In a fully centralized system, records for the whole organization are stored together. A central store offers a high degree of control and security, and optimizes the use of space by employing bulk storage equipment. In a decentralized system, records are held closer to where users work, but controls may be more difficult to achieve.

    Some organizations centralize all their paper records storage, but this is increasingly rare. More often, following the lifecycle model in Figure 1.2 (page 6), decentralization of some or all current records is combined with a centralized facility for records deemed to be semi-current or non-current.

    Most organizations recognize that standard procedures and access controls for paper records are easier to enforce in a centralized system, where specialist records staff can be employed; but when records are required frequently or urgently the convenience of local access usually takes priority and decentralization is preferred. Current records are likely to have high referral rates. Records that have passed beyond the current stage are rarely required at very short notice, so local accessibility is less important.

    Besides speed of access, decentralization provides a sense of ownership by records creators and users. Decentralized storage is often the day-to-day responsibility of the business units where records are created, as central records staff rarely have the resources to service decentralized paper files. In some organizations the central records manager may not be expected to have any participation in the management of decentralized systems.

  • Appendix A - Bibliography and sources of further information

  • Elizabeth Shepherd, Geoffrey Yeo
  • Book:
    Managing Records
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 December 2003, pp 272-293

  • Summary

    Records management websites

    The following websites are particularly useful for the breadth of their coverage of records management issues. Most of them provide information about both paper and electronic records. Some of their content focuses on the needs of public sector organizations in particular countries, but most is of considerably wider relevance.

    International Records Management Trust

    www.irmt.org/.

    National Archives and Records Administration, USA

    www.archives.gov/.

    National Archives of Australia

    www.naa.gov.au/.

    National Archives of Canada

    www.archives.ca/.

    New York State Archives and Records Administration, USA

    www.archives.nysed.gov/.

    Public Record Office, UK

    www.pro.gov.uk/.

    In 2003 the name of the UK Public Record Office is expected to change to the National Archives, and its web address may also change.

    State Records Authority of New South Wales, Australia

    www.records.nsw.gov.au/.

    Further information about developments in electronic records management can be found on the following websites.

    Digital Longevity (Digitale Duurzaamheid)

    www.digitaleduurzaamheid.nl/.

    DLM-Forum on Electronic Records

    www.dlmforum.eu.org/.

    e-TERM (European Training in Electronic Records Management)

    www.ucl.ac.uk/e-term/.

    Interpares Project

    www.interpares.org/.

    Persistent Archives and Electronic Records Management

    www.sdsc.edu/NARA/.

    Records Continuum Research Group

    http://rcrg.dstc.edu.au/.

    VERS (Victorian Electronic Records Strategy)

    www.prov.vic.gov.au/vers/.

    General works in print

    Recent works that provide coverage of electronic as well as paper records

    Kennedy, J. and Schauder, C. (1998) Records management: a guide to corporate record keeping, 2nd edn, Addison Wesley Longman Australia. Widely used Australian text, revised in 1998 to conform with the Australian records management standard AS 4390.

    Parker, E. (1999) Managing your organization's records, Library Association Publishing.

    Practical manual in an informal style.

    Short introductions to records management

    Hare, C. and McLeod, J. (1997) Developing a records management programme, Aslib. Succinct account of the components of a records management programme.

    McLeod, J. and Hare, C. (2001) Records management. In Scammell, A. (ed.) Handbook of information management, 8th edn, Aslib IMI. Overview of records management principles, approaches and trends.

    Saffady, W. (1999) The value of records management: a manager's briefing, ARMA International. Brief explanation of records management, emphasizing the value that it can deliver to an organization.

    Works focusing mainly or wholly on the management of electronic records

    Bearman, D. (1994) Electronic evidence: strategies for managing records in contemporary organizations, Archives and Museum Informatics. Seminal work including reprints of articles by a leading theorist.

    Dearstyne, B. (ed.) (2002) Effective approaches for managing electronic records and archives, Scarecrow Press. Collection of essays, mainly by US authors.

  • Introduction

  • Elizabeth Shepherd, Geoffrey Yeo
  • Book:
    Managing Records
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 December 2003, pp xi-xiv

  • Summary

    Why keep records?

    Every organization needs records.

    Organizations use records in the conduct of current business, to enable decisions to be made and actions taken. Records may be required for business purposes whenever there is a need to recall or prove what was done or decided in the past. Records provide access to precedents or previous work and thus save time and money by eliminating the need to create resources afresh. Records are also kept to guard against fraud and to enable organizations to protect their rights and assets at law.

    Organizations also use records to support accountability, when they need to prove that they have met their obligations or complied with best practice. Organizations are accountable in many ways: they must meet legal, regulatory and fiscal requirements, and undergo audits and inspections of various kinds; and they must be able to provide explanations for decisions made or actions taken. The use of records is the primary means by which organizations can defend their actions if they are called to account for their conduct.

    Such external accountability is particularly important to public sector bodies, which are responsible for their actions both to governments and to the wider public. Companies are responsible to their shareholders, besides having a level of responsibility to the wider community. Every organization is liable to be called to account by legislators, regulators or auditors. Organizations use their records to respond to challenges made against them, whether in a court of law or elsewhere, and to justify their actions and decisions in response to enquiries or in the public arena. Within the organization, records support internal accountability. Those working at lower levels are responsible to their seniors for the work they perform, and records are used to prove or assess performance.

    While records are created in the first instance for the conduct of business and to support accountability, organizations may also use them for cultural purposes, both for research and to promote awareness and understanding of corporate history. Figure 0.1 illustrates these three broad reasons for keeping records.

    Outside the organization, the wider community also has expectations that records should be kept. When records are used for purposes of accountability they are not merely supporting organizational needs for compliance or self-defence; they also meet the requirements of society for transparency and the protection of rights.

  • 8 - Headings for corporate bodies

  • J. H. Bowman
  • Book:
    Essential Cataloguing
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 December 2003, pp 153-172

  • Summary

    We have seen the definition of a corporate body, and you have to keep this in mind. In this section we look at the forms of name to be used for corporate bodies.

    I shall not entirely follow the order of AACR2 here, because it is more helpful to bring certain topics together which in AACR2 are scattered.

    The first part of the chapter covers points which apply to all kinds of corporate name; this is then followed by sections on Conferences and Government names specifically.

    As you might expect, from what you have seen of personal names, the basic rule in establishing the form of name for a corporate body is that you use the name by which it is commonly identified. In order to determine what this is, you use, in this order of preference:

  • • items issued by the body

  • • reference sources.

    • Punctuation and spacing

    Notice the rule about full stops and spaces in headings. If you have a group of initials with full stops, do not put a space after each full stop until you come to the last one, the one immediately preceding the rest of the name. You would therefore put, e.g.

  • ✓ F.W. Woolworth Company

    • not

  • ✗ F. W. Woolworth Company

    • Notice that the ampersand should be used only if it is used in the name of the body concerned; it should not be introduced as an abbreviation.

    In some systems there is a policy of converting it into ‘and’ because sometimes it causes difficulties in filing.

    All kinds of elements may appear in the name of a corporate body. This includes elements in parentheses, if they happen to be part of the official name.

    Examples

    Marlborough Fine Art (London) Ltd Southwick (Sussex) Society

    Distinguish this kind of element in parentheses from the additions that you sometimes have to make to names to differentiate different bodies with the same name (see below, pp. 157–9).

    Capitalization

    Remember that when you are constructing a heading for a corporate body, of whatever kind, you follow the rules appropriate for the language in question. This means that in English you would put capital letters for the principal words in the name (not for words like ‘and’, ‘of ‘, ‘the’, etc.). In many languages you would not use capitals.

  • 7 - Headings for persons

  • J. H. Bowman
  • Book:
    Essential Cataloguing
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 December 2003, pp 137-152

  • Summary

    Having looked at main and added entries in AACR2 Chapter 21 we now, at last, come to the rules for establishing the actual forms of name to be used. Chapter 22 deals with personal names, and Chapters 23 and 24 with the various kinds of corporate body.

    These rules, of course, apply whether the access point is main entry or added entry, as we always use the same form of name for the same thing.

    Choice of name

    As with the other chapters, we still have a little preliminary work to do before we actually arrive at the form of name as it is to appear in a heading. That is to say, we have to choose the version of the name that is to be used as the basis for the heading. You can most easily understand this by means of an example:

    William Shakespeare's name has been spelt in various different ways over the years, such as

    William Shakespeare

    William Shakspere

    and different editions of his works have used different forms of the name. But we want all his works to be entered under the same form of name, and this means deciding on one of them. The purpose of the first part of this chapter is to help you decide which name to use as the basis for the heading if a person uses, or is known by, more than one.

    In looking at a person's name we have to use ‘the name by which he or she is commonly known’. This is meant to be a simple rule (and in application it usually is), enabling you to base the heading on the form of name by which the person is known, even if you know something about the person which perhaps other people don't.

    For example, you may know that the name is really a pseudonym. But if this is how the author chooses to be known, it is nobody's business whether it is a pseudonym or not. Likewise, because Hilda Doolittle chose to be known as H.D. that is the basis of the form of her name in a catalogue.

  • 2 - Analysing the context for records management

  • Elizabeth Shepherd, Geoffrey Yeo
  • Book:
    Managing Records
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 December 2003, pp 30-71

  • Summary

    Records managers need to understand the context of their work at a number of different levels. They need knowledge of the records that are produced, the organizational activities that generate records and the systems used to control them. In addition, they should have a thorough understanding of the organization itself and how records management contributes to its objectives.

    To gain this understanding, records managers must analyse the role and responsibilities of the organization, study its structures and working methods and discover how these have changed during its life. They also need to identify the broader issues that influence the way the organization operates, including its corporate culture and the interests and expectations of stakeholders within the organization and externally. Knowledge of the organization's operating environment is a key element in designing an effective records management programme.

    When the records manager has investigated these broader aspects of the organization, the next task is to acquire a deeper understanding of its functions and the activities that are performed to support them. The knowledge gained from these investigations can then be used to assess how each of these factors affects the organization's needs for evidence and information, and the degree to which its needs are met by the existing records and records systems. Putting all these pieces together, the records manager can design and implement a programme that fits the organization's requirements.

    This chapter examines analytical techniques that records managers can use to develop a wide view of an organization and their role within it. These techniques may be used when establishing a new records management programme and also in responding to changing circumstances when a programme is in operation.

    Using analytical techniques

    What techniques are available?

    Records managers need to undertake a range of analyses, using techniques appropriate to each task (see Figure 2.1). One of these techniques, the records survey, has been developed by records managers themselves, but others were invented outside the records management field. Techniques for investigating the environment, culture and structure of organizations have been developed by management analysts, while functional and process analysis techniques are borrowed from information technology and systems analysts.

    Analysis is an iterative process, since issues raised when one technique is used will often need further investigation using a related technique. The choice of an initial technique depends on the purpose of the analysis and the object to be analysed.

  • 10 - Uniform titles

  • J. H. Bowman
  • Book:
    Essential Cataloguing
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 December 2003, pp 183-196

  • Summary

    The two types of uniform title

    The term ‘uniform title’ can be confusing, because in AACR2 it is used in two different senses. These are called

  • • uniform title

  • • collective title.

    • This means that collective titles are just a particular kind of uniform title, but unfortunately there is no special name for the first (and main) kind of uniform title. The distinction is that a uniform title (in the first sense) refers to an individual work, whereas a collective title is used in relation to a collection or selection of more than one work.

    To try to avoid confusion I shall refer to the latter as ‘collective title’ throughout this chapter, which means that ‘uniform title’ refers to the first kind only. In AACR2 ‘collective titles’ are sandwiched in the middle of Chapter 25, but I am leaving them to the end because I think this makes more sense.

    Both kinds, ‘uniform titles’ and ‘collective titles’, are unusual in two respects:

  • • they are optional

  • • they are concerned with filing.

    • The fact that they are optional means that an individual library can decide how far, if at all, it wishes to use uniform titles in its catalogue. It may decide to use them for some kinds of work but not for others; we shall look at possible examples of this later. If your library does not need to use them you can ignore this chapter altogether.

    The reason that I think the second point is unusual is that AACR2 has nothing to say about filing, and indeed says nothing about the practical application of uniform titles or about the intended results that their presence should achieve in a catalogue.

    Uniform titles for individual works

    A uniform title is basically something very simple: it is a standardized title for an item which may have appeared under a variety of different titles. This means that, unlike the title proper, it is not copied from the chief source of information: it is something inserted by the cataloguer when required. The uniform title thus enhances the collocating function of the catalogue, by bringing together individual works regardless of the actual title on the title page.

  • 5 - Managing appraisal, retention and disposition

  • Elizabeth Shepherd, Geoffrey Yeo
  • Book:
    Managing Records
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 December 2003, pp 146-172

  • Summary

    In records management, appraisal is the process by which an organization identifies its requirements for maintaining records.

    Records managers have developed appraisal techniques primarily to support decisions about retention: which records can be destroyed at an early stage, and which merit longer-term or indefinite retention? However, appraisal can also be used to support other decisions. According to the Australian records management standard, appraisal seeks ‘to determine which records need to be captured’ into a records management system as well as ‘how long the records need to be kept’ (AS 4390.1-1996, clause 8.1). Other uses might include decisions on what records should be created, or identifying those that require special measures for protection or security. In a comprehensive records management programme a range of appraisal decisions may be required.

    This chapter examines different theories of appraisal and considers how appraisal techniques can be applied to control the retention of records. Effective retention management demands a system which ensures that records are retained for as long as necessary and that those no longer required are eliminated. This chapter discusses three components of the system: methodologies for making appraisal decisions; documentation of decisions; and operational measures for their implementation.

    The need for retention controls

    Records, whether paper or digital, cannot all be retained indefinitely. Storage and maintenance over time is often expensive and, as the volume of records grows, access becomes slower and more difficult.

    In practice some kind of appraisal occurs even where no records management programme exists. In the absence of formal controls, retention decisions are made on local initiative. Usually nothing is done until cabinets or servers are full, then someone makes a decision on what to do about it: paper records are moved to another storage area, a bigger server is acquired, or records are moved offline or destroyed. Such decisions are often arbitrary: redundant records are kept, thus incurring unnecessary expense, or records still needed are destroyed prematurely.

    A records management programme aims to ensure that retention decisions are made rationally. One of its key justifications is protection of the organization against legal action. Besides retention of records needed for legal defence, this includes the ability to show why any particular records were destroyed.

  • Appendix B - Select list of national and international standards

  • Elizabeth Shepherd, Geoffrey Yeo
  • Book:
    Managing Records
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    31 December 2003, pp 294-297

  • Summary

    Details given in this list are believed to be correct at the time of going to press, but new and revised standards are issued regularly. The list includes only recognized national or international standards, and related publications of standards organizations. It does not include standards promoted solely by commercial or professional bodies.

    Records management standards and related publications

    AS 4390-1996 Records management, Standards Australia. This standard was withdrawn following the publication of ISO 15489, but it remains a valuable source of guidance.

    ISO 15489-1:2001 Information and documentation – records management – part 1: general, International Standards Organization.

    ISO/TR 15489-2:2001 Information and documentation – records management – part 2: guidelines, International Standards Organization.

    PD 0025-1:2002 Effective records management: a management guide to the value of BS ISO 15489-1, British Standards Institution.

    PD 0025-2:2002 Effective records management: practical implementation of BS ISO 15489-1, British Standards Institution.

    Alphabetical filing rules

    ANSI/ARMA 1-1997 Alphabetic filing rules, ARMA International. ISO 12199:2000 Alphabetical ordering of multilingual terminological and lexicographical data represented in the Latin alphabet, International Standards Organization.

    Digital storage media

    ANSI/AIIM TR 25-1995 The use of optical disks for public records, AIIM.

    BS 4783:1988 Storage, transportation and maintenance of media for use in data processing and information storage, British Standards Institution.

    ISO 18923:2000 Imaging materials – polyester-base magnetic tape – storage practices, International Standards Organization.

    ISO 18925:2002 Imaging materials – optical disc media – storage practices, International Standards Organization.

    Forms and documents: creation and markup

    ANSI/AIIM TR 32-1994 Paper forms design optimization for electronic image management, AIIM.

    ISO 8879:1986 Information processing – text and office systems – standard generalized markup language (SGML), International Standards Organization.

    ISO/IEC 15445:2000 Information technology – document description and processing languages – hypertext markup language (ISO-HTML), International Standards Organization.

    PD0017:2001 Guide to the preparation of business documents, British Standards Institution.

    Information retrieval and language control

    ISO 639-1:2002 and ISO 639-2:1998 Codes for the representation of names of languages, International Standards Organization.

    ISO 2788:1986 Documentation – guidelines for the establishment and development of monolingual thesauri, International Standards Organization.

    ISO 3166-1:1997, ISO 3166-2:1998 and ISO 3166-3:1999 Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions, International Standards Organization.

    ISO 8601:2000 Data elements and interchange formats – information interchange – representation of dates and times, International Standards Organization.

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